Magic is forbidden throughout the Four Realms. For decades, sorcerers and those associating with them were hunted to near extinction.But Seri, a Leiran noblewoman living in exile, is no stranger to defying the unjust laws of her land. She is sheltering a wanted fugitive who possesses unusual abilities-a fugitive with the fate of the realms in his hands...

Guardians of the Keep: Bridge of D'Arnath, Book 2

For 10 years, the noblewoman Seriana lived in exile, believing her husband Karon was dead, executed for practicing sorcery. But now she learns his soul has been anchored to this world by magic. He has been restored to life-though his memories of Seri are gone. When Seri's nephew is kidnapped - and a dark family secret comes to light - the two strangers will have to join together to defeat the evil Lords of Zhev'Na, who want to destroy both this world and the parallel magic realm that lies beyond.

The Soul Weaver: Bridge of D'Arnath, Book 3

The evil Lords of Zhev'Na kept Gerick captive for months. Although his parents rescued him, he remains tormented by his experience-and mistrusted even by those who love him. Accused of treason, Gerick flees and takes refuge in a magical realm full of outcasts, where he will discover how to use his own magical talent-soul weaving-to save his people from Zhev'Na.

Daughter of Ancients: Bridge of D'Arnath, Book 4

In Avonar, Gerick investigates the ancient king D'Arnath's own daughter, held captive by the Lords of Zhev'Na for a thousand years-or so she claims. Entangled in bonds of love, family, and secrecy, Gerick unravels the mysteries of ancient kings, ancient evil-and the dreadful truth of his own destiny.

Restoration: Rai-Kirah, Book 3

Seyonne, the slave-turned-savior of the acclaimed Revelation and Transformation, returns to fight evil and tame the demons within him - in the third novel in this "thoroughly original" (Starburst) epic saga.

Transformation: Rai-Kirah, Book 1

Seyonne is a man waiting to die. He has been a slave for 16 years, almost half his life, and has lost everything of meaning to him: his dignity, the people and homeland he loves, and the Warden's power he used to defend an unsuspecting world from the ravages of demons. Seyonne has made peace with his fate. With strict self-discipline he forces himself to exist only in the present moment and to avoid the pain of hope or caring about anyone.

Flesh and Spirit: Lighthouse, Book 1

The rebellious son of a long line of pureblood cartographers and diviners, Valen has spent most of his life trying to escape what society - and his family - have ordained for him. His own mother has predicted that he will meet his doom in water, blood, and ice. Her divination seems fulfilled when a comrade abandons Valen in a rainy wilderness half-dead, addicted to an enchantment that converts pain to pleasure, and possessing only a stolen book of maps.

Breath and Bone: Lighthouse, Book 2

Everyone in Navronne seems to be after Valen. There is the fanatical Harrower priestess, Sila Diaglou, who wants to raze the kingdom. The Bastard Prince Osriel, who steals dead men's eyes. And the Pureblood Registry, determined to keep every pureblood sorcerer in thrall. Even beings out of myth, the Danae guardians, whose dancing nurtures the Earth and whose attention could prove the most costly of all. As Navronne sinks deeper into civil war and perilous winter, Valen finds himself a bargaining chip in a deadly standoff.

Dust and Light: Sanctuary, Book 1

How much must one pay for an hour of youthful folly? The Pureblood Registry accused Lucian de Remeni-Masson of "unseemly involvement with ordinaries", which meant only that he spoke with a young woman not of his own kind, allowed her to see his face unmasked, worked a bit of magic for her.... After that one mistake, Lucian’s grandsire excised half his magic and savage Harrowers massacred his family.

The Daemon Prism: Collegia Magica, Book 3

Dante the necromancer is the most reviled man in Sabria, indicted by for crimes against the living and the dead. He salves bitterness with a magical puzzle - a desperate soldier's dream of an imprisoned sorceress and a faceted glass that can grant one's utmost desires. But the dream is a seductive trap. Haunted, blind, driven to the verges of the world, Dante must risk everything he values to unravel a mystery of ancient magic, sacred legend, and the truth of the divine.

The Soul Mirror: A Novel of the Collegia Magica

With no magic talent of her own, Anne de Vernase must take on her sister's magical legacy to unravel the secrets behind the dark sorcery besieging the royal city of Merona-and to uncover the truth behind her sister's death. For Portier de Savin-Duplais, failed student of magic, sorcery's decline into ambiguity and cheap illusion is but a culmination of life's bitter disappointments.

Mageborn: The Final Redemption: Mageborn Series, Book 5

Rejected by all, Mordecai must learn to master the darkness within if he is to stop Mal'goroth from destroying humanity. Alone, he battles to control the malevolent magic that has consumed him as he searches for some way to turn his destructive new powers against the Dark Gods themselves. To win, he must somehow transform his own damnation into mankind's salvation.

The Price of Valor: The Shadow Campaigns, Book 3

In the wake of the king's death, war has come to Vordan. The deputies-general have precarious control of the city, but it is led by a zealot who sees traitors in every shadow. Executions have become a grim public spectacle. The new queen, Raesinia Orboan, finds herself nearly powerless as the government tightens its grip and assassins threaten her life. But she did not help free the country from one sort of tyranny to see it fall into another. Placing her trust with steadfast soldier, Marcus D'Ivoire, she sets out to turn the tide of history.

Song of the Beast

Brutal imprisonment has broken Aidan McAllister. His music is destroyed, and with it the visions he once gave a kingdom ravaged by dragon war. Now, he risks his hard-bought freedom to uncover the truth behind his incarceration - and to meet his enemy face-to-face....

Destiny: Child of the Sky

To stand against the F'dor - an ancient, vile being intent on destroying the world - a fellowship has been forged: Rhapsody, a Singer of great talent and beauty; Achmed, an assassin with unearthly talents; and Grunthor, a giant of jolly disposition and lethal skill with weapons. Driven by prophetic visions, the three know that time is running short, know that they must find their elusive enemy before his darkness consumes them all.

courtney says:"Amazing writer/ great narrator. I'm buying the 4th book! Can't wait to see what the next great adventure is!!!"

A Crown for Cold Silver

Twenty years ago feared general Cobalt Zosia led her five villainous captains and mercenary army into battle, wrestling monsters and toppling an empire. When there were no more titles to win and no more worlds to conquer, she retired and gave up her legend to history.

The Cycle of Arawn: The Complete Trilogy

The White Tree (book one): In Mallon the dark magic of the nether has been banned for centuries. Its users have been driven out or killed. Its secrets lost. But the holy book of the nethermancers has just been found by a boy named Dante. As he works to unlock the book's power, he's attacked in the street. The nethermancers aren't gone—and they want their book back. Caught between death cultists and the law, Dante fights for his life, aided by his growing skills and a brash bodyguard named Blays.

The Spirit Lens: A Novel of the Collegia Magica

For Portier de Savin-Duplais, failed student of magic, sorcery's decline into ambiguity and cheap illusion is but a culmination of life's bitter disappointments. Reduced to tending the library at Sabria's last collegia magica, he fights off despair with scholarship. But when the king of Sabria charges him to investigate an attempted murder that has disturbing magical resonances, Portier believes his dreams of a greater destiny might at last be fulfilled.

Queen of Fire: A Raven's Shadow Novel, Book 3

After fighting back from the brink of death, Queen Lyrna is determined to repel the invading Volarian army and regain the independence of the Unified Realm. Except to accomplish her goals, she must do more than rally her loyal supporters. She must align herself with forces she once found repugnant - those who possess the strange and varied gifts of the Dark - and take the war to her enemy's doorstep. Victory rests on the shoulders of Vaelin Al Sorna, now named battle lord of the realm. However, his path is riddled with difficulties.

The Obsidian Tower: Jewelfire, Book 3

As this final volume of the Jewelfire Trilogy opens, all seems lost for the humans of Aventuria. The shape-changing Bhahdradomen have invaded their lands and usurped their Queen, aided by the Aelyr lord Falthorn. Queen Helananthe has been forced to stand down or see the deaths of her mother and brother. Tanthe, imprisoned with her company of friends in the Amber Citadel, must face great peril as they make desperate plans to escape.

it's the best alarm ever.I woke up to it every time says:"Loved it but..."

Prophecy: Child of Earth

In Rhapsody, a fellowship was forged - three companions who, through great adversity, became a force to be reckoned with: Rhapsody, a singer of great talent and even greater beauty; Achmed, an assassin with unearthly talents; and Grunthor, a giant sergeant-major whose jolly disposition stands at odds with his deadly skill at weapons. Having fled the F'dor - an ancient, powerful evil - the three emerged on the other side of the world only to discover 14 centuries had passed.

Mirror Sight: Book Five of Green Rider

Karigan G'ladheon is a Green Rider - a seasoned member of the elite messenger corps of King Zachary of Sacoridia. King Zachary sends Karigan and a contingent of Sacoridians beyond the edges of his nation, into the mysterious Blackveil Forest, which has been tainted with dark magic by a twisted immortal spirit named Mornhavon the Black.

The Unremembered: Author's Definitive Edition

In a debut that is sure to attract enormous attention, the first novel of The Vault of Heaven takes us to a world of wonders and terrors, where an ancient evil threatens to break out of the bounds that have contained it for generations. When the gods created the world, one created monstrous creatures so powerful that he was doomed to live for eternity in the proscribed Bourne where his most odious creations were to be held, kept from the rest of the world by a magical veil that they could not breach.

Uprooted

Agnieszka loves her valley home, her quiet village, the forests and the bright shining river. But the corrupted Wood stands on the border, full of malevolent power, and its shadow lies over her life. Her people rely on the cold, driven wizard known only as the Dragon to keep its powers at bay. But he demands a terrible price for his help: one young woman handed over to serve him for 10 years, a fate almost as terrible as falling to the Wood.

Publisher's Summary

Magic is forbidden throughout the Four Realms. For decades, sorcerers and those associating with them were hunted to near extinction. But Seri, a Leiran noblewoman living in exile, is no stranger to defying the unjust laws of her land. She is sheltering a wanted fugitive who possesses unusual abilities-a fugitive with the fate of the realms in his hands...

Carol Berg writes wonderful books,and her use of language is as much a part of her excellence as her plots and characterization. That language shines as an audio book, and Angele Masters handled it competently, without stumbles. She infused the character with personality as it was a first person narrative. Listening to the audio book definitely made one of my favorite books better.

It wasn't a bad book, but it read more like a Jane Austin novel than an Epic Fantasy. Nothing actually happened in the book, and the motivations, or even existence of a 'big bad' was not evident until the later chapters. All in all, this book took a long time to go nowhere, and the ending was cheap. It's not bad, it's just not very good either.

Told through constant flashbacks from present to about a decade earlier, this initial book 1 of 4 in series does its dutiful job in fleshing out universe and staging characters. It's a little slow at times as it does take a good bit of time to really get going. It is a fairly standard medieval setting. What is good overall is the author can at times move you to actually care about what's happening emotionally.

BUT later books in series switch from a single reader to readers for particular chapters - I'll relate the issues with that in those book reviews, but beware that change before you decide to start this one.

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